THURSTON — After a successful non-league season, featuring a 3-2 record coming out of a competitive tournament in Arizona, the Thurston Colts baseball team had yet to face an early-season scare.
They opened Midwestern League play at Churchill on April 9 with an 8-1 victory, then hosted the Lancers for a doubleheader Saturday.
The Colts had to edge out the Lancers 5-4 in the first game on Saturday, followed by a 4-0 win in the second game of the doubleheader.
“I feel like sometimes we’re a little bit complacent,” coach Dennis Minium said. “I think they come out, and they’ll think, ‘We’re Thurston — we’re going to take care of business.’ But we’re going to get everybody’s best game all year long. That’s something that we’ve got to work on. We have to think, ‘Hey, we have to improve in every inning of every day.’”
Minium
“I feel like sometimes we’re a little bit complacent,” coach Dennis Minium said. “I think they come out, and they’ll think, ‘We’re Thurston — we’re going to take care of business.’ But we’re going to get everybody’s best game all year long. That’s something that we’ve got to work on. We have to think, ‘Hey, we have to improve in every inning of every day.’”
Minium also attributed the first game’s performance to a “slow start.”
It began when the Lancers hit the ground running at the top of the first inning. Jace Litten, batting third, singled on a hard ground ball. He advanced to second after a wild pitch. His teammate, Blake Mikel, then hit a fly-ball double that scored Litten.
Trailing 2-0, the Colts got on the board in the third inning when Grady Saunders scored by stealing home, making it 2-1 Churchill. The Lancers extended their lead in the top of the fifth inning with two extra runs to make it 4-1. Churchill’s Luke Bechen advanced to third on a wild pitch and batter Jayden Arbogast hit a sacrifice bunt and Bechen scored the run. Chase Hartley advanced to second and then Litten doubled to score Hartley.
CRAIG STROBECK / CHRONICLE PHOTO
“After watching the first game, we know we had some things to work on,” Minium said. “Base running for sure. Also, I think we’re being too selective at the plate.”
After scoring a run in the bottom fifth, the Colts then rallied for victory when they had an explosive bottom sixth inning with three runs. David Macdonald doubled, which was followed by Braden Corgain’s walk. Noah Blair was up next, and hit a sacrifice bunt that allowed Macdonald to advance to third while Corgain to second. Finally, Brock Johnson grounded into a fielder’s choice and Macdonald scored. This was followed by the next batter, Kyle Miller, hitting a ground ball and reaching second on an error by the shortstop, in which both Corgain and Johnson scored, making it 5-4.
The Colts then followed up with a 4-0 win against the Lancers in Game Two. The Colts scored three runs in the first inning and another run in the third inning.
Minium highlighted the impact of the weather on practice time, noting that the team has had limited field time and the Colts are facing common early-season dilemmas.
“It’s been tough with the weather, you know?” Minium said. “Our field time has been very minimal – we’ve been practicing on a football field, and it’s not baseball. But we’re kind of finding our groove at the right time. Also, it’s a long season, we still have about six weeks of league. At the end of the day, we won both games today, so I’m pleased after the first week. We’re 3-0,” he said of the team’s conference record.
